Wednesday, October 19, 2005

"This is actually a comment on Avin's post, but he brings up an aspect of GMB's that might be of interest to you (and your readers).

How much does location matter?

In Avin's post he talks about Luigi the olive oil producer. If Luigi was based in Florida (USA) instead of Italy, would the brand have the same impact globally? I don't think so. Or perhaps it would create a different type of brand in Florida.

My point is that .... Location matters.

We all have preconceptions based on location (or as Seth Godin says in "All Marketers are Liars", our own "worldview") and these preconceptions influence how we value certain products.Having said that, as marketers we need to recognize what preconceptions exist in our location and which ones, perhaps, might hold us back.

For example, I have a note card company that makes limited-edition, high-priced note cards based on contemporary art. The high-priced part could leverage the fact that they are made in Connecticut USA (near Greenwich). The contemporary art could leverage New York City.

Of course both of these statements are "in theory", since I still need to take my own advice and revamp my web site, www.notewordy.com, that is another story for another day.

Monday, October 17, 2005

NoteWordy.com is sponsoring a contest to recognize the top, most noteworthy bloggers of 2005 based on their impact on the web and the world in general. The categories include:

Blogosphere - specific blogs related primarily to blogging

Marketing blogs

News blogs

Specialty blogs - unique subjects, covered exceptionally well

Personal blogs - entertaining, insightful ....

More detailed descriptions will follow in later posts. Selections will be made in December 2005 for release to the media in late December.

How does it work?The selection process is semi-democratic. The democratic part is that you can submit comments on this blog (please keep them under 100 words) telling why a particular blog deserves to be one of the most NoteWordy blogs of 2005. The "semi-" part of the selection process is that these suggestions will be reviewed as part of the final decision, but the selection by NoteWordy.com will be final.

So comment often and with passion ! Tell who had great posts this year (preferably with links to great examples).

Winners will receive a complete set of NoteWordy.com limited-edition note cards and the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with winning !

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

This is the web site for a book being developed for Penguin books called, "What Would MacGyver do?". It is going to be a series of 75 to 100 original stories by and about people who have exercised MacGyver-like ingenuity in solving their everyday problems.

Friday, October 07, 2005

As I'm sure you know, I read Seth Godin's blog on a regular basis and have "borrowed" many of his best ideas for use in my business. Now, Papa [Seth] has a brand new bag [sorry, couldn't resist a 60's music reference].

Seth is starting to introduce "Squidoo". He has posted various cryptic messages on his blog over the past few months (like, "I'm working on something big", or "It will be out soon.") and the cat is starting to come out of the bag !

Today, Oct. 7, 2005, he posted "Everyone is An Expert", a PDF document, that explains the idea of a "Lens" for the Internet. Check it out.

I read through his PDF ebook and it appears that Seth has hit on a key value that certain sites provide... the value of "meaning", or a quick way to get "the big picture" so you can make sense of all the data and marketing and garbage on the web (without meaning it is sometimes hard to distinguish good data from garbage or hype).

I am hoping that I will be able to participate in Seth's new endeavor. It is an interesting idea and, like most of his previous idea, it is sure to spread quickly !

The article proposes an interesting idea... "borrowing" people from the library for 45 minutes to learn more about them.

"A public library in Holland has been swamped with queries after unveiling plansto "lend out" living people, including homosexuals, drug addicts, asylumseekers, gipsies and the physically handicapped."

How often do you interact with any of these types of people in your life? How about other types of people? The blind? The elderly? Kids? Priests? Marketing Managers? Bloggers? The list could go on and on.

But what would you find out? Perhaps you would learn about some of the unique challenges associated with the personal choices or circumstances but I would expect that you would also learn that these people are alot like you. Surprisingly like you.

How would you give this idea a try in your life? Leave a comment and let us know.